updated 07:55 am EST, Thu December 11, 2008

OCZ Vertex SSDs

OCZ has continued on a string of solid-state drive introductions with the Vertex Series. Although it uses lower-cost multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory, the SATA II-based Vertex uses a new memory controller that gives performance closer to faster single-level cell SSDs; OCZ estimates peak read speeds of 200MB per second and nearly as quick write speeds at 160MB per second. The drives likewise have as much as 64MB of onboard cache to smooth out the few performance issues left with flash technology.

The flash disks are also longer-lived than past MLC examples and should last about 1.5 million hours of constant use between failures, helped in part by the inherently skip-proof nature of the storage. OCZ says the drives should be available now and offers them in 30GB ($129), 60GB ($249), 120GB ($469) and 250GB ($869) trim levels.